Friday, May 10, 2013

Window on Eurasia: Sochi Countdown -- 39 Weeks to the Olympiad in the North Caucasus

Note:This is my 13th special Window on
Eurasia about the meaning and impact of the planned Olympiad on the nations in
the surrounding region.These WOEs,
which will appear each Friday over the coming year, will not aim at being
comprehensive but rather will consist of a series bullet points about such
developments.I would like to invite
anyone with special knowledge or information about this subject to send me
references to the materials involved.My
email address is paul.goble@gmail.comAllow
me to express my thanks to all those who already have. Paul Goble

British
Foreign Office Says Travellers Should Avoid North Caucasus … Citing the
danger of terrorist attacks, the British foreign office has warned travelers not
to visit portions of the North Caucasus not far from Sochi. It divides the
region into zones, with the most dangerous being in the eastern and central
part of the North Caucasus (polit.ru/article/2013/05/04/twittergate/).

… But
Kadyrov Says Chechnya is “More Secure than England” … Furious at
London, Chechen leader Ramzan Kadyrov says that he is sure that conditions are “more
secure than they are in England” and invites everyone to visit his republic.
Other North Caucasus leaders register similar if less hyperbolically expressed
objections to the British announcement (kavpolit.com/kadyrov-v-chechne-bezopasnee-chem-v-anglii/).

…
And Russian Diplomats Complain. The Russian embassy in London also
complained, posting a declaration on its website saying that the British
statement is both surprising and disturbing because the warning implies that “the
British authorities are better informed about the situation regarding terrorist
threats on the territory of Russia than are the Russian authorities” (rosbalt.ru/main/2013/05/06/1125638.html).

Putin
Orders Strengthening of Russia’s Southern Borders.Russian President Vladimir Putin has directed
his country’s security agencies to do everything they can to strengthen their
country’s southern boders to protect Russia from the illegal flow of migrants,
terrorists and drugs (rosbalt.ru/main/2013/05/08/1126574.html).

Bad
Organization, Mismanagement Plague Pre-Games Competition in Sochi.In what could prove a foretaste of
things to come, the just-completed Cultural Olympiad in Sochi was plagued by
bad organization and mismanagement so severe that many of the children who took
part did not get their awards and many of their parents and local residents
were deeply offended (blogsochi.ru/content/razvod-v-kulturnom-masshtabe).

Georgian PM’s
Office Denies Reports He’ll Go to Sochi Games. Spokesmen for
Georgian Prime Minister Bidzina Ivanishvili say that they do not have any
information supporting Russian media reports that he will attend the opening
ceremony of the Sochi Olympiad (http://www.apsny.ge/2013/pol/1367615473.php).

More Corruption
Found in North Caucasus Resorts Operation.The Russian interior ministry says that it has found additional evidence
of corruption in the scandal-plagued Resorts of the North Caucasus organization
and that further charges against it will soon be brought (kavkaz-uzel.ru/articles/223906/and polit.ru/news/2013/05/08/ksk/).

International
Rights Group Supports Circassian Appeal to Moscow. The
International ovement for the Defense of National Rights says that it supports
a Circassian appeal to the Russian president calling on him to recognize the
Circassian genocide, provide assistance to Circassians in Syria, and help
overcome the territorial divisions of the Circassian community in the North
Caucasus (natpress.ru/index.php?newsid=8226).

Visitors to
North Caucasus Resorts Pass a Billboard Warning that ‘Terrorism is a Threat to
Humanity.’
In a survey of the problems – corruption, climate, bad roads, and local opposition – that the development of
resorts in the North Caucasus near Sochi face, Reuters repors that those who nonetheless
do try to visit these sites will pass signs carrying the warning that “Terrorism
is a Threat to Humanity,” a message that some of them are unlikely to find
welcoming (ru.reuters.com/article/topNews/idRUMSE93S04120130429?sp=true).

Those Who Get to
the Resorts May Find Them ‘Potemkin Villages.’ At least one
North Caucasus resort,the one located in Chechnya’s Veduchi, is little more
than “a Potemkin village,” something that may look completed but in fact is
little more than a façade, local journalists say (bigcaucasus.com/review/environment/06-05-2013/83183-veduchi-0/).

Circassian
Leader Says Moscow Has Missed Its Chance to Reach Out to His Nation.Arambiy Khapay, theleader of the Adyge
Khase-Circassian Parliament, says that Moscow had a chance to mend fences with
theCircassians but has missed it by going ahead with plans to hold the Olympics
on the site of the 1864 genocide of the Circassianpeople. Noting that many
share his views, Khapay said that even if he and other Circassians are asked to
participate in some way in the cultural program of the games, he personally
would be unwilling to do so. Such activities, he suggested, would do the Circassians
“more harm than good” (natpress.ru/index.php?newsid=8227).

German Human
Rights Activist Says Moscow Must Apologise to Circassians.Sarah Reinke told the Taz newspaper that “Russia
must apologise” to the Circassians for the genocide Russian officials carried
out against that nation in 1864 (taz.de/Aktivistin-ueber-Tscherkessen-und-Olympia/!115733/).

Sochi Residents Upset by Behavior of Central
Asian Gastarbeiters. To complete the
construction of Olympics-related facilities, Russian contractors have brought
into Sochi large numbers of gastarbeiters from Tajikistan and Uzbekistan.As in Russian cities, there have been
problems, including clashes, and Sochi residents say they can’t wait for the
gastarbeiters to leave once the construction is done.Muscovites howver suggest that Sochi
residents are “naïve” if they think the Central Asians will ever go home (blogsochi.ru/content/novyi-region-sochi-v-predchuvstvii-olimpiady).

Russians Angry
that Sports Construction Reducing Funds for Roads in Their Areas. Ever
more Russians appear to be recognizing that Moscow’s decision to spend massively
on sports facilities is casting a shadow on their lives by reducing funds for
the repair or construction of streets and roads near where they live (auto.vesti.ru/doc.html?id=510898&cid=24).